Friday lunchtime. Dropped my car home as the windscreen was being replaced - due to a chip and a crack from a few days before. Wandered down to the bus stop, hoping a bus would come by. Waited five or ten minutes and then began to get a bit anxious about getting back to work as I didn't want to take too long a lunch break.
As I walked up the street to try another bus stop, I saw a taxi and signalled to the driver. He waivered for a minute, then stopped for me, and said 'I'm going to Woden, you can come if you are going to Woden'. My reply - ''that's great, that's where I'm going'.
The driver explained that he had just been to the mosque - it being a Friday. He was wearing his clothes for prayer, and was meeting his wife in Woden to change and to start his shift. He said, I find, when I pray that god puts thing in your way. I was pleased to get back to work in good time.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The arrival of the spring goddess
Today the sun shone as I rode around our lake, dodging people and dogs and strollers and pedal bikes. People were out in their numbers. Spring is not far away.
And so I emerge from my hybernation from this blog. A lot has happened.
Soon after I last blogged I bid for and bought a house. Then followed some early packing, so that the painters could get into the old house, and a week away to let them do their thing. The painters were followed in by gardeners, carpet layers, and decorators.
In late June my old house went on the market and soon after was sold. Across those weeks more packing, and in early July a truck to move me to the new house. Sales on the old and new went through. A new mortgage was established.
And here I am now, reasonably settled into the new house (and loving its location), but still slowly unpacking the secondary layer of boxes. For quite a while I was able to find most of what I needed but I have begun to reach the 'where ares my screwdrivers? my grandfather's fish photos? my blue socks?' phase.
I haven't moved for more than 15 years and have little call to travel across town as one of the reasons I moved was to be closer to work. I did go back last week to visit my doctor though - because it is nearly impossible here in Canberra to get in as a new patient in any other doctors surgery. It was a little weird, both as a reminder that I have in fact moved (this isn't just a short stay away from home) and that I don't really miss the old place.
I am still learning about the new place though, and the new suburb. Today, after a slow start and a bike ride, I unpacked the final boxes in the kitchen, and repacked a few boxes to take to the opp shop. Then I found the sunny spot in the garden, made myself a cup of tea, and read a few pages of my book. I am glad I made the move.
And to continue the Asian theme that steeps unpredictably through this blog, soon after I put the deposit down on the house in early May, I went on a short holiday to Hong Kong. We packed a lot into four days, including bike riding in the New Territories, the festival of Tin Hau (Goddess of the Sea),
a day trip to Macau,
a Tears for Fears concert, a little shopping, and a ride on a junk.
This is one of my favourite photos - the main hall in a walled village - with photos ancestors and revered elders, and additional decoration for the festival of the Sea Goddess.
And so I emerge from my hybernation from this blog. A lot has happened.
Soon after I last blogged I bid for and bought a house. Then followed some early packing, so that the painters could get into the old house, and a week away to let them do their thing. The painters were followed in by gardeners, carpet layers, and decorators.
In late June my old house went on the market and soon after was sold. Across those weeks more packing, and in early July a truck to move me to the new house. Sales on the old and new went through. A new mortgage was established.
And here I am now, reasonably settled into the new house (and loving its location), but still slowly unpacking the secondary layer of boxes. For quite a while I was able to find most of what I needed but I have begun to reach the 'where ares my screwdrivers? my grandfather's fish photos? my blue socks?' phase.
I haven't moved for more than 15 years and have little call to travel across town as one of the reasons I moved was to be closer to work. I did go back last week to visit my doctor though - because it is nearly impossible here in Canberra to get in as a new patient in any other doctors surgery. It was a little weird, both as a reminder that I have in fact moved (this isn't just a short stay away from home) and that I don't really miss the old place.
I am still learning about the new place though, and the new suburb. Today, after a slow start and a bike ride, I unpacked the final boxes in the kitchen, and repacked a few boxes to take to the opp shop. Then I found the sunny spot in the garden, made myself a cup of tea, and read a few pages of my book. I am glad I made the move.
And to continue the Asian theme that steeps unpredictably through this blog, soon after I put the deposit down on the house in early May, I went on a short holiday to Hong Kong. We packed a lot into four days, including bike riding in the New Territories, the festival of Tin Hau (Goddess of the Sea),
a day trip to Macau,
a Tears for Fears concert, a little shopping, and a ride on a junk.
This is one of my favourite photos - the main hall in a walled village - with photos ancestors and revered elders, and additional decoration for the festival of the Sea Goddess.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Space and rhythm
I am on holidays. Three weeks, and several adventures planned, with enough space left for the unplanned too.
This break started with a weekend trip to Wollongong (to see son), then a day and night in Sydney (for a Taiko drumming workshop).
The drumming was great fun. In two hours we learned the basis of a rhythm that is played continuously at Japanese festivals over several hours, sometimes days. Arms are held straight, sometimes high above the head before beating into the drum. Very theatrical. Once the rhythm starts its important to keep the space between your arms and your body, which is helped by the way you stand. Always the need for space to support form.
After two days back in Canberra, I headed off again - this time to country Victoria for a five day cycling trip. There were over fourty people from Canberra there, it being organised through the local cycling club. We stayed in country pubs, and had lovely breakfasts and dinners thrown in. Overall we did about 270km from Myrtleford to Bright and back, to Beechworth (up a steep hill), then on to Rutherglen for two nights. The only rain was on our rest day in Rutherglen, when we cycled short distances between wineries, after a ride across the river (and the border) for morning tea in Corowa, NSW.
On the way back I stopped in at Albury and had lunch with my son's grandmother and aunt. To celebrate the grandmother's 80th birthday I had bought a bonsai plant. While on the ride I had left in the care of the very kind staff at the Myrtleford visitors centre.
It was a lovely adventure buying the bonsai. I found a guy who sells them in my suburb, and visited his nursery. He showed me the big plants ($6000 or more) and they were beautiful. With the deciduous trees losing their leaves, and pomegranates bearing bright but miniature fruit - it was a delightful place. And luckily there was a nice cyprus for sale at a very reasonable price.
I was reminded of the bonsai garden when we arrived in Bright, which is on the road to the Victorian ski fields, and which had just celebrated its Autumn festival - the main feature being the beautiful trees turning to shades of red and gold and silver, with their leaves floating onto the ground below them.
The people on the ride were lovely, some friends I know quite well, and others who quickly became new friends. And on the last day of the ride, after we had all showered and changed out of our cycling gear, a rainbow appeared in the sky.
This break started with a weekend trip to Wollongong (to see son), then a day and night in Sydney (for a Taiko drumming workshop).
The drumming was great fun. In two hours we learned the basis of a rhythm that is played continuously at Japanese festivals over several hours, sometimes days. Arms are held straight, sometimes high above the head before beating into the drum. Very theatrical. Once the rhythm starts its important to keep the space between your arms and your body, which is helped by the way you stand. Always the need for space to support form.
After two days back in Canberra, I headed off again - this time to country Victoria for a five day cycling trip. There were over fourty people from Canberra there, it being organised through the local cycling club. We stayed in country pubs, and had lovely breakfasts and dinners thrown in. Overall we did about 270km from Myrtleford to Bright and back, to Beechworth (up a steep hill), then on to Rutherglen for two nights. The only rain was on our rest day in Rutherglen, when we cycled short distances between wineries, after a ride across the river (and the border) for morning tea in Corowa, NSW.
On the way back I stopped in at Albury and had lunch with my son's grandmother and aunt. To celebrate the grandmother's 80th birthday I had bought a bonsai plant. While on the ride I had left in the care of the very kind staff at the Myrtleford visitors centre.
It was a lovely adventure buying the bonsai. I found a guy who sells them in my suburb, and visited his nursery. He showed me the big plants ($6000 or more) and they were beautiful. With the deciduous trees losing their leaves, and pomegranates bearing bright but miniature fruit - it was a delightful place. And luckily there was a nice cyprus for sale at a very reasonable price.
I was reminded of the bonsai garden when we arrived in Bright, which is on the road to the Victorian ski fields, and which had just celebrated its Autumn festival - the main feature being the beautiful trees turning to shades of red and gold and silver, with their leaves floating onto the ground below them.
The people on the ride were lovely, some friends I know quite well, and others who quickly became new friends. And on the last day of the ride, after we had all showered and changed out of our cycling gear, a rainbow appeared in the sky.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Lotus flowers and lanterns
Well it seems like just yesterday, but it is nearly a month since I last posted.
And it has been a time of more lotuses, new year lanterns and drumming. In late Feb, on a cycling weekend in Wollongong, we visited the Nan Tien budhist temple. They were celebrating the Chinese New Year, with lanterns and color, Chinese dragons and drumming.
Echoing my trip to the botanic gardens in January, the pond at the temple was also filled with lotus flowers.
This weekend I was at the National Folk Festival, which is held every Easter here in Canberra. A lively music and camping scene emerges magically on the local show grounds. As I usually do, I volunteered in the instrument lockup, which is a good way to see another side to the festival.
And when I wasn't helping out there I was free to enjoy the different shows. Sometimes new acts are found by studying the program, but often they are discovered moving about the venue, while looking for something to eat, or waiting to meet up with a friend. Most of the time time my feet are tapping.
Once again I saw lots of good acts, fiddle and bass and singing along with plenty of silliness. Another feature of the festival is the many workshops - dance and singing and playing. After seeing Taikoz play at the opening concert I did their drumming workshop yesterday, then stumbled across their evening concert as well. When I looked up their website last night I just loved their motto - 'to beat with every muscle, bone and sinew in our bodies, with an open and joyous spirit'.
It is the joy in each of the performances at the folk festival that keeps me going back year after year, and which inspires me to keep practicing some music at home. Slowly, learning to read the notes from the page, and then practicing again and again until the tunes come alive. There is much to uplift the soul in striving for perfection and synergy and then settling into each moment before it passes - perfect or less so.
And once the show ground has resurfaced, and I find myself in my office humming fiddle tunes, for a few days at least I feel just a little more grounded, and connected to the rhythms that run through time.
Echoing my trip to the botanic gardens in January, the pond at the temple was also filled with lotus flowers.
This weekend I was at the National Folk Festival, which is held every Easter here in Canberra. A lively music and camping scene emerges magically on the local show grounds. As I usually do, I volunteered in the instrument lockup, which is a good way to see another side to the festival.
And when I wasn't helping out there I was free to enjoy the different shows. Sometimes new acts are found by studying the program, but often they are discovered moving about the venue, while looking for something to eat, or waiting to meet up with a friend. Most of the time time my feet are tapping.
Once again I saw lots of good acts, fiddle and bass and singing along with plenty of silliness. Another feature of the festival is the many workshops - dance and singing and playing. After seeing Taikoz play at the opening concert I did their drumming workshop yesterday, then stumbled across their evening concert as well. When I looked up their website last night I just loved their motto - 'to beat with every muscle, bone and sinew in our bodies, with an open and joyous spirit'.
It is the joy in each of the performances at the folk festival that keeps me going back year after year, and which inspires me to keep practicing some music at home. Slowly, learning to read the notes from the page, and then practicing again and again until the tunes come alive. There is much to uplift the soul in striving for perfection and synergy and then settling into each moment before it passes - perfect or less so.
And once the show ground has resurfaced, and I find myself in my office humming fiddle tunes, for a few days at least I feel just a little more grounded, and connected to the rhythms that run through time.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
A lazy Canberra weekend
It has been a while, seems I've been busy, so just a short post on a long weekend, to say I'm here, and enjoying a restful time. zzzzzzz
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sang Pemimpi
Last night I saw a wonderful Indonesian film at the opening of a South East Asian film festival at the ARC theatre. (phew! what a mouthful!).
The film Sang Pemimpi, is the second part of a trilogy based on the very popular books about growing up on an island off Sumatra, by the Indonesian writer Andrea Hirata. While the books were set in the 70s and 80s there was much that reminded me of the Indonesian villages I saw in Sulawesi last year - the markets (pasar), the school (sekolah) and the mosque (masjid).
It was a delightful story about boys in high school and their dream to go to Paris to study. Despite some distractions, the two main characters Ikal and Arai did eventually make it there. The film's title translates as The Dreamer, and refers to Arai who was always encouraging his friends to dream and then working hard to deliver their dreams to them. This was in the face of losing all of his family when only still a child. Did I say it was a lovely film? one I think that reflects the humility and optimism of many Indonesians today.
The director Riri Riza, and the producer, Mira Lesmana, attended the screening, and took questions from the audience. I was taken by a comment from Riri, that when they had screened the film in Europe, a common response was that the film was very nostalgic, and I had to agree. It captured something of simpler times, when the small things people did had huge effect,.
In the opening scenes when we see Ikal's father riding a squeaky bike on a lonely road. Later in the film we learn that this scene was repeated each year, when the father travelled from his village to the school to collect the school reports, handed out in order of achievement. Ikal called him the no 1 father, who did this year after year, only to stop, congratulate his son briefly, then head back off on his bike. It was even more poignant the year that Ikal's grades dropped, and he only did that once.
Aku senang sekali yang aku melihat bioskop ini.
The film Sang Pemimpi, is the second part of a trilogy based on the very popular books about growing up on an island off Sumatra, by the Indonesian writer Andrea Hirata. While the books were set in the 70s and 80s there was much that reminded me of the Indonesian villages I saw in Sulawesi last year - the markets (pasar), the school (sekolah) and the mosque (masjid).
It was a delightful story about boys in high school and their dream to go to Paris to study. Despite some distractions, the two main characters Ikal and Arai did eventually make it there. The film's title translates as The Dreamer, and refers to Arai who was always encouraging his friends to dream and then working hard to deliver their dreams to them. This was in the face of losing all of his family when only still a child. Did I say it was a lovely film? one I think that reflects the humility and optimism of many Indonesians today.
The director Riri Riza, and the producer, Mira Lesmana, attended the screening, and took questions from the audience. I was taken by a comment from Riri, that when they had screened the film in Europe, a common response was that the film was very nostalgic, and I had to agree. It captured something of simpler times, when the small things people did had huge effect,.
In the opening scenes when we see Ikal's father riding a squeaky bike on a lonely road. Later in the film we learn that this scene was repeated each year, when the father travelled from his village to the school to collect the school reports, handed out in order of achievement. Ikal called him the no 1 father, who did this year after year, only to stop, congratulate his son briefly, then head back off on his bike. It was even more poignant the year that Ikal's grades dropped, and he only did that once.
Aku senang sekali yang aku melihat bioskop ini.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A day in the sun
Yesterday the sky was sunny and blue. It was good day to get things done. In the morning I:
The Mother Nature festival was something else. I was there because I do drumming classes and our teacher is sometimes asked to put together a group to perform, and when he does he sends the invitation out far and wide. I discovered last year when I said yes to one of these that it can be a lot of fun. I'm not a serious drummer though, and had only been able to make it to one of two rehearsals, so was a bit rusty even on the rhythms we had practiced. The core group really did a fabulous job though, and the sounds of the dun duns and jembes really caught the attention of the crowds.
Then we sat and watched the opening ceremony for the festival, which involved five maidens in flowing gowns, carrying sprigs of leaves, and a smoke filled bowl, and annointing the crowd with water. Fifty or so people formed a circle around them, and the girls led a yoga like breathing session, ending with arm raising and a group hum.
This was (at least) my second spiritual event for the day (or third if you count drumming), as I had also been 'given light' by my friend at the centre. This involves sitting and lying on the floor while my friend performs reiki like moves on my body. I don't have any strong belief here, but I don't mind the opportunity to relax and to catch up with my friend, hopefully respectful of the good that is in her practices.
It was a day full of the kinds of experiences I enjoy - to observe the things that engage people, and to see how it gives their lives meaning. I like to let my soul be in different places, to see what will seep under my skin, and hope that some will resound to others. I will have to do more drumming practice though, if I have any intention of doing more public drumming!
- read the Saturday papers
- went for a run
- started the washing
- looked at two houses for sale to see if they were for me (not yet)
- did the grocery shopping
- finished the washing
- caught up with a friend, first at her spiritual centre, and then for ride around the lake
- did some drumming (or tried) at a Mother Nature festival
- forgot to take my camera so couldn't photograph the pagan ceremony that opened the festival
- stumbled home to sleep
The Mother Nature festival was something else. I was there because I do drumming classes and our teacher is sometimes asked to put together a group to perform, and when he does he sends the invitation out far and wide. I discovered last year when I said yes to one of these that it can be a lot of fun. I'm not a serious drummer though, and had only been able to make it to one of two rehearsals, so was a bit rusty even on the rhythms we had practiced. The core group really did a fabulous job though, and the sounds of the dun duns and jembes really caught the attention of the crowds.
Then we sat and watched the opening ceremony for the festival, which involved five maidens in flowing gowns, carrying sprigs of leaves, and a smoke filled bowl, and annointing the crowd with water. Fifty or so people formed a circle around them, and the girls led a yoga like breathing session, ending with arm raising and a group hum.
This was (at least) my second spiritual event for the day (or third if you count drumming), as I had also been 'given light' by my friend at the centre. This involves sitting and lying on the floor while my friend performs reiki like moves on my body. I don't have any strong belief here, but I don't mind the opportunity to relax and to catch up with my friend, hopefully respectful of the good that is in her practices.
It was a day full of the kinds of experiences I enjoy - to observe the things that engage people, and to see how it gives their lives meaning. I like to let my soul be in different places, to see what will seep under my skin, and hope that some will resound to others. I will have to do more drumming practice though, if I have any intention of doing more public drumming!
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